Shoryuken

The Shoryuken (literally "Rising Dragon Fist") is an attack that rises high off the ground, punching upwards (Bonus points for spinning.) A staple for Shotoclones, along with the Kamehame Hadoken and Hurricane Kick. One of the most popular forms of Anti-Air or Launcher Move attack in Fighting Games. And it looks cool, too.

True Shoryuken moves in fighting games tend to have very high priority, such as canceling out most of the opponent's attacks. In the early Street Fighter games, the move granted complete invulnerability until it reached its apex, which led more than a few fans to theorize that a Ryu or Ken performing a Shoryuken would be unscathed by a nuclear explosion, at least until the move ended and they started to descend.

Not to be confused with shuriken, which are ninja stars. Compare Megaton Punch, Roundhouse Kick.

Examples of Shoryuken include:

Video Games

  • Trope Namer: Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter.
    • Also Sagat (Tiger Uppercut/Tiger Blow), Akuma (Gou Shoryuken), Sakura (Shou-ouken), Dan (Koryuken), Sean (Dragon Smash), Dudley (Jet Upper and Rocket Uppercut), Gouken (Shin/Forbidden Shoryuken), Seth (Shoryuken), etc, etc.
    • Cammy's Cannon Spike acts more like a Shoryuken than other kicks.
    • Cody has his own uppercut called Criminal Upper that creates a vortex of wind, while he can be hit out of it, once the vortex is out nothing can get past it until it dissipates.
  • Kenshiro in the Arc System Works version of Fist of the North Star has a version of Hokuto Ujou Mou Shou Ha that makes him jump like performing a Shoryuken.
  • From Super Robot Wars OG, the final part of Soulgain's Code Kirin is this. With Blade Below the Shoulder.
  • Mega Man X gets one as a secret move in the second and eighth games (the latter as part of the Ultimate Armor's moveset).
    • In Mega Man X and Zero, Zero has the sword variant.
    • And yet another Mega Man X example: in X4, Magma Dragoon uses this as an attack, even yelling "Shoryuken!" while doing it.
      • He also hadokens, complete with shout.
      • If you have collected the appropriate armor pieces, you can charge Dragoons weapon, and do a (rather impressive) Shoryuken, which also happens to be The weakness of Sigmas first form in the final battle.
    • In fact, whatever Boss Zero learns the Shoryuken from in either series (fire-elemental or not) would have this as one of their attacks.
  • Little Mac's full power Star Punch in Punch-Out!! is a rising uppercut that straight up knocks down most of the early opponents outright. The three-stars version in Punch-Out!! Wii is identical to the last hit of Dudley's Rocket Upper Super Art.
    • It's pretty much a real Shoryuken, complete with 360 degrees rotation and what not.
  • Part of Heart's skill set in Arcana Heart.
  • Present on the dagger and bomb move set in Soul Calibur 3.
  • Most characters in SNK games have a variant of the Forward, Down, Crouch Forward, Punch: K' and Kula Diamond (Crow Bite), Robert Garcia (Ryuga), Ryo Sakazaki (Kohou), Iori Yagami and Kyo Kusanagi (Style #100: Oniyaki). Andy Bogard has the Shoryudan, a whirling uppercut. Terry Bogard also had the SRK input for the Rising Tackle in some versions of KOF before it went back to a down, up charge motion.
    • Samurai Shodown has these. The second game, of course, had ones that set you on fire, but Ryu and Ken style Haohmaru (Senpuuretsuzan) and Genjuro (Touhakoyokujin) (as well as Wan-Fu's Kikou Senpuugeki) get these.
  • In the Worms games one of the attacks commonly featured is the Fire Punch, a jumping rising flaming punch. The default sound set has "Shoryuken!" as the attack quote.
  • Project M, a mod of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, features two forms of Shoryuken: Lucario's new up-smash and Snake's new up-tilt.
    • Lucario's is unique in that it's the only smash attack in the game that ends in midair, (being a Shoryuken) with the purpose of comboing into other moves.
    • In default Brawl (and the other Smash Bros. games), fans tend to refer to Luigi's Fire Jump Punch as the Shoryuken due to its extreme power. Unfortunately it requires perfect timing, otherwise it basically does nothing.
  • In Streets of Rage 2 & 3, Axel ends his Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs style forward-special with one of these. His "Bare Knuckle"/"Grand Upper" blitz attack is another rising uppercut, but doesn't have a jump component to it. In the beta version of the second game, he had a Shoryuken and a Hurricane Kick as standalone moves.
  • In The World Ends With You, this is an entire category of attacks: Vulcan Uppercut. The first one most to all players get is Murasame.
    • And Shiki's ground finisher, which even has the invincibility frames the original is famous for.
  • The Pokémon move Sky Uppercut. It can even hit and deal extra damage to Pokémon who are Flying (as in, using the move "Fly", not the elemental typing), as well as Pokémon in midair that are using the move Bounce.
  • Fighter Kirby has Rising Break, which is one of the most powerful attacks in all games it appears in (generally second only to Hammer and Stone moves).
    • But don't try it on bosses in the original Kirby Super Star; in that game, its power comes from the multitude of weak hits it deals as it juggles the enemy, and as bosses don't flinch when struck, they only end up taking a single hit.
  • Various of the Mishima clan in the Tekken games have variants of this. One version is actually called the Dragon Uppercut.
    • Bruce has this as well. It's called "Tornado Uppercut."
  • Kasumi from Dead or Alive has a variant of this. The only difference is that she bends her arm to strike with her elbow instead of her fist.
  • You can buy this move in Prototype. It even does multiple hits!
    • You can gib an opponent with this, if you have the enhanced musclemass power.
  • Roy and Hideo in Rival Schools. Both of them even use it in their team up attacks, with Roy's having his partner do the move with him, trapping the unfortunate opponent in a double-sided whirlwind of Shoryuken pain.
  • Dante from Devil May Cry has the Rising Dragon in his third game, which can be charged up to deal extra hits, as well as the considerably more powerful Real Impact, which with its windup, strong "contact" hit and subsequent launch Homages Ryu's less famous Shin Shoryuken. These have carried over to the fourth title.
  • Adell of Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories does one of these for the final hit of his Vulcan Blaze special. It makes the target explode in a fiery fashion a moment after it connects.
  • In God Hand, Gene can do a move that looks pretty much exactly like the Street Fighter version. It's very handy for juggling Mooks.
  • Spider-Man (Spider Sting), Captain America (comics) (Stars & Stripes), Wolverine (Tornado Claw), Cyclops (Gene Splice), and Cable (Psimitar) all possess Shoryuken in the various Capcom vs. Whatever games. Stars & Stripes is unique in that if Captain America does it without his shield, it does multiple hits; Gene Splice and Tornado Claw function like Ken's Shinryuken super move; Scimitar becomes a projectile once Cable hits the top of his height with the move; and Spider Sting is the same thing as Power Dunk.
    • On the Capcom side, Mega Man and Hayato have versions of their own. Hayato's variant employs a Laser Blade.
      • And with Marvel vs. Capcom 3, we can now add in Deadpool with a Shoryuken, though it's used as a Launcher rather than an anti-air technique. Ryu is completely confused on how Deadpool learned it.[1]

Ryu: You stole my Shoryuken?! When did you...?!

      • Also in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, there's Zero's Ryuuenjin, She Hulk's Somersault Kick (which isn't the same in execution, but it is in principle), and X-23's Crescent Scythe (same deal as She-Hulk). Viewtiful Joe's Groovy Uppercut may not be a straight example since it goes diagonally rather than vertically.
  • And speaking of which, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has Ippatsuman's Quick Stance is a Shoryuken version of his Justice Liner dash attack, which has little vertical range of the Shoryuken but has the horizontal range. If he performs Quick Stance while dashing, it gains horizontal reach. Karas has Narukami, which is a Shoryuken with a sword (and he does it in his OVA too).
  • The Create-A-Wrestler modes in most of THQ's WWE games has a version of the Dragon Punch available as a finisher (usually called the Rising Uppercut).
  • Aska in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, and Michelangelo, Amaggon, Shredder, and War have variations.
  • In Guilty Gear, Sol-Badguy has the Volcanic Viper, and a super-version of it that occurs during his Dragon Install super.
    • Robo-Ky Mk II also has it, being that he copies his moves from other characters.
    • Similar moves include Ky's Vapor Thrust and Chipp's Beta Blade. Slayer's Eternal Wings also qualifies, but its range makes it more like a super-powered Koryuken than a Shoryuken.
  • Sonic has two of these moves as the Werehog in the Play Station 3/Xbox 360 version of Sonic Unleashed. The moves are even called the "Sho-Hog-ken", and the "Sho-Claw-Ken".
  • Marisa's Miasma Sweep in the Touhou fighting games. Her version of the rising uppercut is supplemented with her Flying Broomstick for added oomph.
  • Demitri and Morrigan from Darkstalkers each have a variation of the Shoryuken (the Demon Cradle and the Shadow Blade, respectively - however, Demitri's doesn't go only in the vertical), as well as Lilith (also Shadow Blade), Bishamon (Kienzan) and Felicia (Cat Spike).
  • Fulgore and Jago both get one in the original Killer Instinct
  • BlazBlue features Ragna's Inferno Divider, Tsubaki's Benedictus Rex, and Makoto's Corona Upper.
    • Noel's drive mode creates a new set of normals and specials, one of which is called "Spring Raid", which functions like this. Since Drive mode is basically her Combo button, and you have to use some form of the D-button before being able to do Spring Raid, it's usually used as a combo ender of some variety, but if your opponent is approaching through the air, and you have enough time to get off some variety of D, you can use it as anti-air. There are better options, however.
  • Sektor's and Robo-Smoke's Teleport Uppercut in Mortal Kombat 3.
  • Goku has one in Super Dragon Ball Z. His Dragon Punch from the show however, is not an example.
  • In Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Johnathan has this as one of his martial arts (it doesn't have the range of the Vampire Killer, but does 3x said whip's damage).
  • Scott's normal combo ends in a Shoryuken in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. This is mainly because, as a slacker, Scott's fighting style is copied from fighting games and this is especially awesome because, even as a normal person his Shoryuken still envelop his hand in hand flames.
  • In Lightning Legend Daigo no Daibouken, Konami's first 3D Fighting Game, Mayu Uzaka has one of these in her Special Moves repertoire, which she calls "Uzaka Upper". It can be used either as a single move, or as a finisher in a combo.
  • Filia from Skullgirls has a move called Updo that functions like this.
  • Various Sonic the Hedgehog games give this ability to Knuckles, specifically the Sonic Advance Trilogy series and Sonic Adventure 2. In the Advance games, his fist is also on fire.
  • The MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic gives this to Bounty Hunters pretty early on. With ROCKETS.
  • Asura ffrom Asura's Wrath is a variation. He does the motion of the move in his Launching attack, but He doesn't do the full jump. He plays this straight in the Street Fighter crossover DLC, however. By Shoryukening Ryu into theFRICKEN MOON!

Anime & Manga


Comic Books


Professional Wrestling

  • WWE wrestler Christian is taken to at times perform a flying European uppercut from the top rope. While not an explicit example of a Shoryuken, commentator Matt Striker has on at least one occasion called out "SHORYUKEN!!!" in classic Street Fighter Style, after the move has been performed.


Web Comics

  • Ctrl+Alt+Del's Ethan does this to The Grinch when he catches him trying to steal his presents. And then threatens to "perform The Nutcracker, and I'm not talking about the ballet" if he bleeds on any of them.
  • Eight Bit Theater In one of the gag strips, Fighter accidentally stumbles across this, while trying to learn Black Mage's Hadoken. Naturally Black Mage was the recepient of the attack.
    • Bonus Points for having Fighter say that he thinks he pushed the incorrect buttons.
  • Charon does this to Deep One Prime in Shadowgirls.
  • Looking For Group. While trapped in the Plane of Suck, Richard does both a Hadouken and a Shoryuken.


Web Original


Real Life

  1. ↑ It was ported from that infamous comic where he used the "same move" on Kitty Pryde to rile Wolverine into fighting him.
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